Hey guys,
I hope all is well. As probably all of you
remember, we shortly discussed ‘Job crafting’ in our last session and learned
that it is a naturally occurring phenomenon whereby employees mold their tasks
to fit their individual strengths, passions and motives better. I found a
pretty interesting article which defines the expression of job crafting a bit
differently.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/groupthink/2013/06/20/job-crafting-the-great-opportunity-in-the-job-you-already-have/
Interestingly here the author states in an
example that more and more people do far more than what is simply written in a job
description, in the centre stands how our work affects others or whom it might
benefit in the end, not the “me” but the “we” is the heart of job crafting.
Shortly, jobs should be expanded to meet desires which make (hopefully) a
difference.
Have you ever thought about to what extent
your tasks at work can do good things for others? Or is it all about your own interests
like money/recognition/security? Is it even important for you how you relate to your
work?
Looking forward to our discussion!
Thank you Mattias for this article as it fits perfect in the actual topic of our lecture. I think that it is very important for the long-term, or intrinsic, motivation to see the task you are fulfilling in the whole context of its field.
AntwortenLöschenFor example, someone can see the pure task of an accountant as a boring one, only reporting and calculating numbers. But in the broader context, without the correct values management is not even able to steer a company in the desired way and maybe fail in the medium or long-run. Furthermore can these people interpret the changes on the P&L and Balance-Sheet, because they know every single entry and are therefore able to interpret those changes better or may find recording errors of some departments before they affect the business too much. So they are very important to secure or even increase jobs in the company.
That is just an example, but this way of seeing ones task in the whole context can be crucial to have fun, in business as well as in private life. Because the primal need of almost every human is to do something valueable, for him/herself, the company, the family and the society.
So I think that this will be a crucial part for HR, especially in the developed countries to stay competitive with combined efforts in empowerment of people and diversity managment. That also means, that HR will get more and more complex which in the end, will have a "job-crafting-momentum" to this area as well.
Thank you, Matthias, for this wonderful article! It is really amazing to read how cleaning staff change their attitude towards work and design their way of working in a way to feel a meaning in doing it! Also only little bits and pieces can affect a great change! What is more, the story of the book “The Cat in the Hat” written for kids illustrates only too perfectly how important job crafting actually is.
AntwortenLöschenAnswering your question, I really do think it is crucial to see and do more in your job than only the actual tasks required. In my opinion, once you have a job that fits your skills and desires and you feel comfortable within your working field, the only natural thing to do is to “craft” your job here and there to give more sense to it. For my part, I did not have great flexibility in my jobs so far, as I always occupied the position of a trainee not having been given such a broad frame of possibilities. Nevertheless, it is true that I had some kind of flexibility which is always took advantage of. I will surely even more incorporate that in my future job.
I once absolved an internship where I could not identify myself with the company neither with what the company – and I – was doing. So, I applied a lot the approach of “job crafting” in this internship “selecting” tasks and looking for jobs I might want to do as far as my working field allowed for it.